Review: ‘Virus of Fear,’ a Kiss Touches Off Child Abuse Accusations

Ventura Pons’s stagy drama “Virus of Fear” tries to walk a thin line about its volatile subject — child sexual abuse — as it weighs a man’s possible innocence against a mob’s rage. But its attempts at ambiguity work against it. Fortunately, the film, adapted from Josep Maria Miró’s play “Archimedes’ Principle,” falls on the right side of its issue, if barely.

Jordi (Rubèn de Eguia) is a swimming instructor at a sports center in Barcelona, Spain, whose behavior is questioned when a girl reports he has given a boy a kiss. Jordi’s manager, Anna (a very fine Roser Batalla), wants to believe his anguished self-defense (he says he was trying to quell the child’s fears of the water), but his lies (about smoking) and exhibitionism (at one point he angrily confronts Anna in the nude) make her suspicious. His low-key fellow instructor, Hector (Albert Ausellé), has growing doubts, as does the center’s receptionist, Laura (Diana Gómez). Exacerbating matters is a recent unrelated pedophilia scandal in the city, which has helped feed a growing chorus of livid parents.

One detail is conveniently unexplored: Laura socializes with Jordi outside of work, but we never learn what he’s like in civilian life. Shots of Jordi’s students are laden with uncertainty; at times, they look capable of malicious invention. But Mr. de Eguia’s overheated performance — often embodying a boorish macho insolence — doesn’t help Jordi’s case. And while the story avoids a glib resolution, its suggestion that parental concerns over this issue can be overstated rings false. Sometimes it is infinitely better to err on the side of caution.

Virus of Fear

Director

Ventura Pons

Writers

Josep Maria Miró, Ventura Pons

Stars

Diana Gómez, Anna Azcona, Rubén de Eguia, Santi Ricart, Roser Batalla

Running Time

1h 15m

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A version of this article appears in print on , on Page C10 of the New York edition with the headline: Review: ‘Virus of Fear,’ a Kiss Touches Off Child Abuse Accusations. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe